Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement for the East Lindsey District Council Website

This accessibility statement applies to the e-lindsey.gov.uk website.

This website is run by East Lindsey District Council in collaboration with Public Sector Partnerships Services Ltd. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts;
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen;
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard;
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software;
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).

We aim to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How Accessible This Website Is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Most PDF and Word documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Pages and attachments are not written in clear, plain English.
• Pages and attachments do not have a logical heading structure.
• Some videos don't have transcripts or visible captions/subtitles.
• Some data tables don't have row or column headings.
• Some images don't have descriptive alternative text.
• Some empty links exist within the site.
• Some links aren't easily identifiable.
• Some redundant links exist on the home page of the site.
• Some iframes are used to embed videos which do not have titles.
• Some pages do not have unique page titles.
• The green waste form contains unlabelled search fields within selectors, does not present error messages in the correct manner for screen reader users and does not have a logical tab order for keyboard-only users.
• Some links to documents, such as PDFs, do not include the file type with the link text.

Request Accessible Content

If you need any information provided on this website in an alternative format that suits your needs, please email our Communications Team to make your accessible content request.

Report an Accessibility Problem

We welcome any suggestions you may have to improve the accessibility of our website. If you experience any accessibility problems that aren't mentioned on this page or if you think any part of this website doesn't meet the accessibility requirements, please let us know. Email our Communications Team to report an accessibility problem.

Enforcement Procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). 

If you contact us about an accessibility problem and aren't satisfied with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) (opens new window)  in the following ways:

• contact EASS online (opens new window)
• call EASS on 0808 800 0082
• EASS textphone 0808 800 0084

Technical Information About this Website's Accessibility

East Lindsey District Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) (opens new window)  AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Heading Structure

There are multiple pages on the website that contain an illogical heading structure.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text. (Level A)
• 2.4.6 Headings and Labels: Headings and labels describe topic or purpose. (Level AA)

We plan to review and amend text alternatives for all images by 30 June, 2023. When we publish new content we'll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Page Titles

There are a number of instances where the page titles are not unique to the content and fail to provide a clear description.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 2.4.2 Page Titled: Web pages have titles that describe topic or purpose. (Level A)

We plan to review and amend page titles by 30 June, 2023. When we publish new content we'll make sure our use of page titles meets accessibility standards.

Images

There are a number of instances where images have non-descriptive alternative text.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below. (Level A)

We plan to review and amend text alternatives for all images by 30 June, 2023. When we publish new content we'll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Tables

A number of data tables throughout the site do not contain row or column headings. 

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text. (Level A)

We plan to review and amend any data tables by 30 June, 2023. When we publish new content we'll make sure our use of tables meets accessibility standards.

Links without sufficient descriptive text exist on the website, making it harder for screen reader users to navigate the site. 

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text. (Level A)
• 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context): The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general. (Level A)

Work to amend any such link text will be completed by 30 June, 2023 and will be continually assessed thereafter.

Some redundant links exist on the home page of the website.

These are adjacent links that go to the same location (such as a linked image and an adjacent linked page name that go to the same page) this results in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below. (Level A)
• 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context): The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general. (Level A)

We are currently working with our website platform supplier to address this issue, and aim to have a fix in place by 30 June, 2023.

Colours

A small number of colour contrast issues are present on our website.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum): The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, except for the following: (Level AA)

Work to address these issues will be completed by 30 June, 2023 and will be continually assessed thereafter.

PDFs and Other Documents

A number of PDFs and documents published since September 23, 2018 are inaccessible to screen reader users.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below. (Level A)

These are being reviewed and will be:

• removed and recreated as standard HTML web page content, or
• removed and recreated as accessible PDFs/documents, or
• may be assessed and fall within 'disproportionate burden'.

This work aims to be completed by March 31, 2022.

Green Waste Service Sign up/ Renewal Form

The green waste service sign-up/renewal form contains unlabelled search fields within selection inputs.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below. (Level A)
  • Controls, Input: If non-text content is a control or accepts user input, then it has a name that describes its purpose. (Refer to Guideline 4.1 for additional requirements for controls and content that accepts user input.)
• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text. (Level A)
• 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input. (Level A)
• 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: For all user interface components (including but not limited to: form elements, links and components generated by scripts), the name and role can be programmatically determined; states, properties, and values that can be set by the user can be programmatically set; and notification of changes to these items is available to user agents, including assistive technologies. (Level A)

The form also relies solely on visual cues to relate errors to the user.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 3.3.1 Error Identification: If an input error is automatically detected, the item that is in error is identified and the error is described to the user in text. (Level A)
• 3.3.3 Error Suggestion: If an input error is automatically detected and suggestions for correction are known, then the suggestions are provided to the user, unless it would jeopardize the security or purpose of the content. (Level AA)

The form also has an illogical tab order, making it difficult for some users to navigate.

This fails on the following WCAG 2.1 success criterion:

• 2.4.3 Focus Order: If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability. (Level A)

This form was built using a legacy form package and is on our roadmap to be replaced. It will however be reviewed by November 30, 2021 as to whether these issues are fixable in the legacy system.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and Other Documents

Any PDF or document that was published prior to September 23, 2018 will not be reviewed and as such, may not meet the accessibility standards.

Live Video

Any live videos produced by the council will not have captions or a transcript, as these are exempt from the accessibility regulations.

Pre-recorded Video

All pre-recorded videos produced by the council since September 23, 2018 may not have subtitles, captions or transcripts, as they are not required to do so under the accessibility regulations.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

Our website has been audited by Shaw Trust Accessibility Services to test its compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1), on levels A and AA. The report from the digital accessibility assessment of our website was received on September 9, 2020.

Continuous testing is being handled in-house by our Communications Team and the Public Sector Partnership Services Web Team, through the use of an automated tool known as Silktide. This is in addition to utilising the manual skills and  experience of staff within the teams.

Web Editors are being trained to create accessible content.

Disproportionate Burden 

Throughout this statement we have highlighted those issues that we have determined as a 'disproportionate burden'.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September, 2020. It was last reviewed on 30 January 2022.